Heavy Gear: Vanguard Victory all the way!
by General Herbison
Summary: The Vanguard of Justice has had enough of losing and now is hellbent on taking apart the Shadow Dragons. First Heavy Gear fic, contains language, violence, and other themes


**I do not own Heavy Gear even though it is awesome and I wish it would continue. Enjoy**

Sitting in his room the Major replayed footage of the last battle with the Shadow Dragons. No matter what tricks and strategies his team had utilised the Dragons continued to defeat them.

"What is it going to take?" he muttered to himself.

Could it be his team was losing their skill?

Leaning back in his chair he considered the team.

Yoji, the toughest and most brutal woman he had ever met, apart from the Colonel. She seemed to be constantly seeking his approval, ready to do whatever tricks or plans he came up with without question. Apparently during a tournament where a bomb had been planted in a nearby Gear she didn't want to leave without him. Her emotions were always kept locked up, but underneath he could tell she was a neglected child who looked to him as her father figure for approval. Near the start of Rover's time in the Dragons he and Yoji had piloted a Mammoth Strider against the Shadow Dragon's Gear… which resulted in failure. After the fight his team had claimed to have done everything possible, he could still remember Yoji's exasperation.

"_Yes sir, we punked their weapons, bombed them, we even snatched one of them. What more do you want?"_

A smile grew on his face, since that time Yoji had been working on more and more ingenious devices with Groonz and Serge to assure victory. He supposed she was his apprentice and could possibly be the next leader of the Vanguard.

Sergeant Groonz. An eager military man Groonz had made it public knowledge he was committed to his commanding officer. Bombs, technical support, he was even willing to drop out to protect his Major.

_A missile flew through the air towards Major Wallis. Groonz spotted it and shoved his leader aside but was hit by the missile and collapsed to the ground._

"_Groonz!" Wallace was stunned, "What did you just do?"_

"_I took one for you sir" Groonz saluted inside his Gear, "It was an honour"_

Major Wallace grinned, Groonz was a little enthusiastic but he always had the team's back through thick and thin. Guilt twitched within him as he remembered he hadn't always been particularly nice to Groonz and decided to try and foster friendship with his subordinate.

Serge Garpenlov, the team's oldest member. A retired sniper he knew all about sneak attacks and how to catch the enemy off guard. Serge was usually happy to drop out of the tournaments and ambush the Dragons unofficially. A stealth Gear in the tunnels, sabotaging the Maglift Train during the scavenger hunt, providing sniper support during the all-star match, the man may be getting on in years but he had plenty of fight left in him.

Finally, Rank. The team's psycho mutant who loved the fight, though he usually wound up losing because of it.

_Rank blasted everything he had at the wall shielding Dirx while screaming, "Vanguard victory all the way!"_

_His in Gear computer flashed up red, "No Ammo"_

"_Not fair" he moaned._

_Dirx jumped out with "Vanguard equals diddly squat" before blasting Rank out of the fight._

While Rank did tend to lose his cool rather quickly he was almost unmatched in aggression during hand to hand combat. Not the smartest pilot either but he did seem to view the Major as his father figure similar to Yoji.

_The ammo storage caught fire._

"_It's going to explode!" Major Wallis and Rover raced away from the inferno but were overwhelmed as explosions engulfed the arena._

_Rank started dancing while everyone else stood in shock, "A little crispy serpent, a little crispy se-"_

"_Rank" Yoji interrupted in a strained voice, "Major Wallis was in that blast"_

_The dancing stopped as Rank turned in horror to the flames, "Not the Major! He was like a father to me."_

_Groonz wrapped an arm around the mutant, "And he was a commanding officer to me."_

Wallis could barely recall what happened. All he remembered was emerging from the flames with Rover and hearing the stadium erupt in cheers. Unspoken respect passed between he and Rover as each returned to their squads, in preparation for the fight against the Mega Gear for the title of Heavy Gear Champion.

"Vanguard assemble for training" he spoke over the intercom.

**(VANGUARD TRAINING FACILITY)**

Major Wallis entered the training room to find his team already suited up and waiting.

"Alright Vanguard" he strode forward, "Fall in"

Without a sound they fell into line as their commanding officer paced in front of them.

"We have to face facts. We have won three out of the past ten tournaments" he shook his head, "This is unacceptable. From now on we must redouble our efforts to ensure victory."

They nodded silently.

"From now on we must learn our enemies. We must learn what breaks them and use it to our advantage. In our next battle I want to see you watching each other's back. If you see a teammate about to fall and are presented with the choice of saving them or taking a shot at the enemy then provide support for your comrade. The longer we survive the more they will fall as our numbers overwhelm them."

His team nodded again.

"Despite our losses against the Dragons we are still here, we are still the Vanguard, and I still believe in each of you that we will show those Southern snakes we are superior to them!" he punched his fist into the palm of his other hand, "Are you with me?"

"Yes sir!" they saluted.

"Mount up," he ordered, "We've got some serious training to do."

**(THREE DAYS LATER)**

"Hello Gear fans!" a loud and well known voice blared around the arena, "It's your favourite announcer Von 'Boom Boom' Maddox!" the charismatic face was displayed on the monitors, "Welcoming you to the exciting new season of Heavy Gear!"

The crowd roared in response as the logos of the two teams flashed up on the screens.

"First let's welcome the Shadow Dragons!"

A loud cheer went up from the fans of the Southern team.

"Dirx!"

A blue Gear roared out of the tunnel and waved to the crowds.

"Zerve!"

"Hello all you beautiful people!" an orange Gear waved, "Can you feel the positive waves!"

"Sonya!"

"What's up everybody!" the only female Shadow Dragon's purple Gear punched the air.

"Tachi!"

"Victory through honour" a silver and green Gear bowed.

"Grel soldier Sebastian!"

A large blue and silver armoured Gear rolled out of the tunnel.

"And the reigning Heavy Gear Champion… MARCUS STEVEN ROVER!"

"Dragons forever!" the young Badlander's red Gear zoomed out on his hover board to tremendous applause.

"And now let's welcome the Vanguard of Justice!"

The Shadow Dragons gathered as they watched the tunnel on the other side of the arena.

"Rank!"

"I'll crush you snakes!" the Mad-Dog zoomed out with a maniacal laugh.

"Sergeant Gunther Groonz!"

The navy blue Gear saluted as he emerged from the tunnel.

"Yoji in the Punk-Fo!"

"Prepare to be punked you punks!" she declared as her pink Gear shot into the sunlight.

"Serge!"

A gleaming golden Gear raised its arm to accept the applause.

"And finally…MAJOR DRAKE ALEXANDER WALLIS THE THIRD!"

The impressive bronze and red Centurion Gear emerged wielding its lance.

"The Vanguard equals victory" Major Wallis declared with great confidence.

Due to the numbers being unfair one of the Dragons had to sit out the first round. After a brief discussion Tachi willingly decided to stay on the side-lines and provide communication support.

Both teams lined up as a small drone hovered between them with a set of traffic lights, ready to start the fight.

"Are you ready?" Maddox appealed to the crowd, waiting until he got the cheer he was after, "Then let's mash" the red light appeared, "some" it dropped to amber, "metal!" the light turned green and the fight began.

The two teams started by falling back to take cover behind the stone walls that rose from the arena floor.

"Alright Vanguard" Wallis encouraged his team, "Remember the plan, take out the enemy but watch each other's backs."

"Yes sir!" they replied.

Wallis and Rank charged up the middle towards Marcus and Dirx while Yoji broke left to engage Sonya, Groonz and Serge moved to the right to take on Sebastian and Zerve.

**(ANNOUNCER'S BOX)**

Maddox couldn't believe what he was reading as a list of instructions appeared on his screen. What he was being told to do was down-right illegal and could possibly kill one of the Gear pilots… he had a right mind to refuse.

As if sensing that thought another message appeared, 'Now'.

With great reluctance Maddox did as he was told.

**(ARENA)**

Wallis and Rank had engaged Marcus and Dirx in a pin-down manoeuvre with both unloading serious levels of ammunition at the wall the Dragons were hiding behind. With a subtle nod to Rank, Wallis drew his lance and advanced towards the wall. The idea was for Rank to keep the Dragons trapped while Wallis moved in to skewer one of them.

Sadly it didn't happen as Rover chose that moment to jump from cover and shoot. The Dragon had been expecting both Wallis and Rank to be shooting from a distance but what he hadn't been counting on was to jump around the corner and see a massive red and bronze Gear wielding a lance right in his face. His gun's muzzle flashed and the bullets pounded into the Major. While the Centurion's armour was highly advanced and suffered little damage it did knock Wallis back enough for Marcus to bid a hasty retreat before Rank sent fire his way.

"Rover" the Major muttered bitterly as he raced after his rival.

On the other side of the arena Sonya and Yoji were resorting to good old fashioned sword fighting.

"Take that punk" Yoji swung heavily and knocked Sonya's sword out of her hand.

"Only if you take this" the Dragon shoulder-tackled Yoji, sending the Vanguard to the ground.

As Sonya moved in to finish off her opponent a missile exploded into her back.

"Target eliminated" Serge grinned as he helped Yoji up, "Proceed to next target"

"Not bad sniper guy" Yoji admitted as they hurried over to aid Groonz who was being pursued by Sebastian and Zerve.

"Oh and Sonya is outta there!" Von declared, "Make sure you don't take your eye off the sniper!"

Rank had moved in to take out Dirx but the Dragon had forced him into a game of cat and mouse around the many walls throughout the arena.

"Stay still so I can blast you slimy reptile!" Rank hissed.

He zoomed around the corner to find his opponent waiting, "Oh crap"

Dirx blasted him and his Gear collapsed onto its back. The lights went out.

"Come on" Rank urged, "Let's see some bloomin lights."

The monitor flashed up red saying his Gear was non-functional.

"No!" Rank held up a hand to block the screen as though that would change the readout.

"Better luck next time Vanguard" Von proclaimed as Rank's face was removed from the scoreboard.

**(ANNOUNCER'S BOX)**

"Is there a problem?" Colonel Rykka appeared on Maddox's screen, "Why have you not fulfilled your assignment?"

The announcer was visibly uncomfortable, "Colonel, this is really dangerous, one of your own team could be hit. Are you sure you want to risk that?"

"The Vanguard will survive; besides, the weapon is programmed to target two individuals in opposing teams. If a Dragon gets it then Yoji will be hit, if the Vanguard gets it then Rover will be hit. That way even if we don't eliminate Rover we won't lose our team's leader."

"If you're sure" Maddox pressed the button.

**(ARENA)**

The centre of the arena opened and a pillar rose into the air with a large rocket launcher clipped to it.

"Oh, I spy a new toy!" Von bellowed, "Who's gonna get it first?"

In unison both teams raced for the pillar.

"Yoji, and I will provide cover fire." Wallis directed, "Serge and Groonz retrieve that weapon."

"Yes sir"

"Yes Major"

Groonz and Serge quickly started climbing one side while Rover and Zerve ascended on the other side. Sebastian and Dirx moved to engage Wallis and Yoji.

The next few moments were rather blurry as it featured a lot of shooting randomly and ducking behind cover but eventually the crowd roared as Marcus Rover reached the top and claimed the weapon.

"Let's test this thing out" he aimed down at where Yoji and Wallis had pinned Sebastian and Dirx.

The targeting system locked on Yoji and Marcus fired.

Time slowed to a crawl as Wallis looked up to see the missile zoom towards them. His experienced eyes picked up the angle of the projectile and knew it was heading for Yoji. Without any hesitation he flung himself in front of it.

Gasps emerged from the audience as they watched Major Wallis take the hit for his team, even the Dragons looked surprised.

Then things went wrong.

The missile exploded violently and the Centurion caught on fire. Smoke billowed from the cockpit and everyone froze as they watched the Gear collapse to the ground.

"MAJOR!" Yoji screamed.

Breaking the spell both teams raced for the fallen Centurion, Yoji being the closest reached him first. Her Gear tore open the cockpit and smoke rushed from inside to reveal a burning figure inside. She grabbed the figure in the Gear's hand and pulled him out of the fire before setting him down on the ground.

"Medics!" Groonz shouted over the intercom to the emergency crews standing by, "We need medics over here now!"

Yoji had jumped out of her own cockpit and was kneeling beside the Major checking his vitals and performing standard first aid. Serge and Groonz had parked their Gears beside Yoji's and joined her near their fallen leader. Rank had hitched a ride with the medics as they zoomed towards the smouldering wreck of Centurion.

The medics quickly arrived and transferred Wallis onto a stretcher before taking him away.

"If anything happens to him…" Yoji and Rank warned the medical official.

The Shadow Dragons had regrouped nearby and Tachi zoomed over with Sonya riding on his Gear's hand.

"I did that" Marcus was in disbelief, "I was aiming for Yoji but Wallis dived in the way."

"Hey kid, you didn't know what that thing would do" Dirx knew what was coming, "Don't blame yourself."

"But-"

"Hey don't start with the negative waves man" Zerve warned, "Now you gotta check on those guys" he indicated the Vanguard who were still gathered around the wreck of Centurion.

The Shadow Dragons dismounted and walked over to their rivals. Yoji was still kneeling where Wallis' body had been. Serge and Groonz were professional soldiers and had experience in this matter, both were standing behind the young impulsive woman should she need comfort, though judging on her personality they doubted it.

Rank had sat down away from the others and was talking to himself while rocking back and forth. Zerve wandered over and sat down beside him. "Hey man"

"Snake" the mutant spoke politely, probably stunned.

While Zerve talked with Rank Marcus, Sebastian, Dirx, Tachi and Sonya approached the other three Vanguard members. Serge merely nodded to them but Groonz sent a death glare at Marcus. They knew the risks going into every match, but watching a close friend and commanding officer go down like that…

Yoji was still kneeling and didn't react to the Dragons' arrival.

"Uh, Yoji" Marcus cleared his throat, "Yoji?"

She looked up at him.

"Look I am really sor-" Marcus stopped as she stood up.

Groonz dived forward to grab Yoji as she launched herself at Marcus. Holding her back was impossible for a normal man so Sebastian had to aid him.

"I'll kill you!" she screamed, her face was utterly feral as she clawed at Marcus, "I'll kill you bastard!"

The leader of the Shadow Dragons retreated hastily as Yoji started listing the things she would do to him, one of which included having his male parts tore out and shoved up a certain area.

Eventually Groonz and Rank managed to pull Yoji away and they left the arena with Serge.

"C'mon man" Dirx patted Marcus' shoulder, "Let's go."

**(NORTHERN CAPITAL OF VALERIA/ HOSPITAL)**

The team waited outside while an assortment of doctors and nurses tended to Major Wallis.

"Is he going to make it?" Rank asked every medical personal who left the room. While at first they had politely told him they weren't sure now they had simply hurried past.

As though they couldn't tell him the truth.

Groonz had stayed with Rank and Yoji the whole time due to being young enough to associate with them but also to keep an eye on them while Serge made his report to Colonel Rykka.

"Are you okay?" he nudged Yoji.

She had been sitting in a seat staring at the door since the doctors refused to admit her into the room, and after she had tried breaking through the security guards posted outside.

"Yeah" she nodded, "I'm okay. But if the Major hadn't taken that shot it'd be me in there."

"Don't beat yourself up" Groonz gripped her shoulder, "The Major was willing to take that to protect you. When he told us the battle plan of watching each other's backs of course he included himself. It wasn't your fault he followed the plan."

The young woman in front of him had turned from the tough, aggressive, no shit from anyone type person, to a traumatised kid.

"If the Major doesn't pull through" she muttered, probably to herself but Rank and Groonz could hear murder in every syllable, "I am going to kill Rover." Her eyes were utterly soulless as she said it.

Rank gripped her other shoulder, "And I'll be right there with you Yoji" he promised.

"Come on guys" Groonz quickly held his hands to shoulder height, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We all know the Major is going to pull through."

The door to the operating room opened and a team of doctors emerged.

"Is he-" Rank started.

"The operation was successful, he has suffered some burns that will heal in time, he may suffer dizzy spells occasionally but those should pass as well." One of them informed the Vanguard, "He-"

"Just get to the 'but' already" Yoji interrupted.

The doctor took a deep breath, "But he will be in an induced coma for the next few days. His mind will have suffered damage of some form. We cannot tell how much memory loss he will sustain. It may be just the past few days, it may be several years."

Groonz squeezed Yoji's shoulder, "Thank you doctor, may we go in?"

"Of course" the doctor nodded, "If anything happens let us know."

Rank took a few steps towards the room cautiously, as though there was something dangerous inside.

"You coming?" he asked Yoji.

She nodded and stood up. With Groonz close behind she and Rank entered the room.

**Please review**


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